Another Designer that inspires me...

GOD

You may have heard of him, creator of heaven and earth and stuff. I don't really mean to get religious or anything, but whats more inspiring than life and the world around you? I am always cruisin' the information superhighway on cop patrol and there are tons of products that are the coolest things ever and I must own them, but when I start to design things I tend to try to erase the things I have seen and concentrate on producing new ideas. So I think in this sense very few designers influence me, but life and the world are pretty amazing things so why not vibe off of them. Werd.

A designer that inspires me is...

Salvador Dali

Seriously, how weirdly cool is this table and chair set. People are always telling me how design needs to be very concrete and technical, defining usage scenarios, capitalizing on emerging tech et al. And here comes the kooky old guy who decided hell, i want to make a table with people legs for legs, and I want it GOLD. That totally rules. I'm not trying to say that all that "hard" design isn't important; its totally necessary, but I feel like the way to separate yourself (because honestly you can teach almost anyone that methodology, DAAP is proof) from the rest of the design world is do things that no one has seen before. So I guess what I find so inspiring about Salvador Dali the designer is that he's a breath a fresh air and a reminder that design can be intuitive and fun and probably a little silly. Thats the part I really like. He also had a really long name: Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol.

The future is now...

I recently watched the Al Gore vehicle, An Inconvenient Truth and I must say it was better than expected. I mean the Vice President is kind of a dry dude so I think I was justified in being skeptical but I gotta say, it freaked me out, seriously the most terrifying diagrams ever.

So when thinking about future technologies, the green technologies that will help continue our existence on the planet would have to be sort of high on the list. The following is my short list of green technologies that will keep you from getting burned up like the dinosaurs:

1) Piezoelectric Tiles
Featured in the several of the finalists for the 2007 Next Generation Design Contest. These tiles would be placed in public spaces such as airports and other high traffic areas. They convert the pressure from a footstep into electricity using the same principles as a guitar pickup. How cool is that? They don't generate a ton of energy, but if you placed them in a high traffic area they could power all the lighting in a building. There is no silver bullet, so a combination of technologies like this could help ween our oil addiction.

2) Phytoremediation
This one is pretty sci-fi. The idea is to use plants to suck up soil contamination at Superfund sites and then use the plants as bio mass fuel. It has been in use in several places since as early as 2003. Combining this with genetic modifications of existing vegetation provides a powerful, non invasive method of cleaning up contaminated soil and water. How do you like dem apples?

3) Nuclear Power
A lot of people are on the fence about nuclear power, specifically what to do with nuclear waste. This is pretty reasonable, but we already have a strong understanding of the tech and its applications unlike hydrogen power or other solutions, we just need to work on that last step. I see something similar to phytoremediation, where some sort of organism is designed to break down the nuclear waste into more basic, less dangerous components. I see the future as a new nuclear age, but I think I may just want a flying car.


So there is my list. Whats yours?

No one on the corner has swagger like us

New portfolio, in stores now:

Your such a tease and other omg moments

This week I will discuss movie trailers, I think because we are working on portfolio teasers we are supposed to think about trailers cause its pretty much the same thing as a teaser just cooler, and way more expensive.

My favorite trailer of late would have to be the when Warner Bros. released the first six minutes of The Dark Knight as a trailer. You can check it out here.

After I saw that and how intense it was without even seeing batman. Releasing a short piece of the movie as they did shows a ton of confidence in the work they have done. No cheesy movie guy voice over, no excess explosions, basically this is the movie try not to be pumped.

Awesome.

Supreme Supreme.

So thinking about strong brand identities this morning, and I gotta say its harder to find an industry more concerned with this than streetwear, its pretty much all that matters. I mean honestly a shirt is a shirt only thinking makes it cool. This brings me to the meat and potatoes of this particular post. The creators and purveyors of all things coppable , SUPREME!


There are probably a million skate shops in NYC so not only did Supreme manage to totally jump out of their niche to achieve a ton of mainstream success, they have been top dogs of the streetwear scene for over a decade, an almost unheard of feat.

Supreme is so successful at this point their brand identity doesn't rely on anything besides their status as the ballinest shit out (and a really nice sans serif logo with red). So that pretty much rules.

That which doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

So I have been working a lot on my portfolio the past few months, reformatting, back sketching, etc.

I think a great way to improve any part of your portfolio is to get feedback. There are a ton of places online that will help you out you just need to put up your work. Additionally don't be a dick when people critique your work, if you don't agree with the advice then don't take it but getting into some stupid e-fight, well no one wins.

A short list:
core77 portfolio forum
coroflot
product design forums portfolio forum
id sketching forums (home to 4 designers that are better than you)

I strongly suggest posting work on any of the above forums, its a good way to introduce your work to the id community at large without a job hanging in the balance.